Director Trevor Jimenez and production designer Chris Sasaki discuss their artistic process for bringing the Annie Award-winning hand-painted animated short film to the screen.
Written and directed by Trevor Jimenez, with production design by Chris Sasaki, the Academy Award-nominated ‘Weekends’ won this year’s Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject.
In a brand-new video featurette making the rounds online, director Trevor Jimenez and production designer Chris Sasaki delve further into their collaboration on the Annie Award-winning and Oscar-nominated short film Weekends.
The story of a young boy shuffling between the homes of his recently divorced parents over the course of a year, the painterly short film Weekends blends surreal, dream-like moments with the domestic realities of a fragmented family in this hand-animated dialogue-free film set in 1980’s Toronto.
The 15-minute short film was produced as part of Pixar’s co-op program, which allows employees to use Pixar resources to produce independent films, but without full-fledged studio support. Working closely with Sasaki, Jimenez oversaw a crew of 27 animators and artists to bring the project to life.
The Academy Award-nominated short film, which was written and directed by Jimenez, recently won an Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject. Now in theaters via Shorts.tv (shorts.tv/theoscarshorts) Weekends will be available to watch online beginning February 19 on VOD.
Watch the new video, which features interviews with Jimenez and Sasaki, as well as concept drawings and designs and animatics, in the player below:
Want more? Check out “A Personal Story,” detailing Jimenez’s journey as a filmmaker, and “Collaboration,” which introduces Jimenez and Sasaki’s working relationship, and click through to AWN’s in-depth interview: Within a Dream: Bringing Emotion To Trevor Jimenez’s ‘Weekends’. You can also check out the official Weekends Instagram account, which features dozens of fan-made art inspired by the film.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
